QUESTION: Does an eight-week exercise program reduce the intensity and prevalence of low back pain in 12 to 13 year old children? Does it decrease the childhood physical risk factors for low back pain and promote a sense of well-being? DESIGN: Randomised trial with concealed allocation and assessor blinding. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two 12 to 13 year old children, who had complained of low back pain in the past three months. INTERVENTION: The experimental group completed eight exercise classes of 40 to 45 minutes duration over eight weeks conducted by a physiotherapist, whilst the control group received no intervention. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was pain intensity measured on a 10-cm visual analogue scale. Secondary outcomes included 3-month prevalence of pain, childhood physical risk factors for low back pain, and sense of well-being. Measures were taken at baseline (month 0), post-intervention (month 3), and three months later (month 6). RESULTS: Pain intensity over the past month had decreased by 2.2 cm (95% CI 1.0 to 3.5) more for the experimental group than the control group at month 3 and was still 2.0 cm (95% CI 0.5 to 3.5) less than the control group at month 6. The absolute risk reduction for 3-month prevalence in low back pain in the experimental group was 24% (95% CI 4 to 41) compared with the control group at month 3, and 40% (95% CI 18 to 57) at month 6. There were also statistically-significant between-group differences in neural mobility. CONCLUSION: Exercise is effective in reducing the intensity and prevalence of low back pain in children. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00786864.

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